Paul M. Leidig

Resources for instructors of capstone courses in computing

Most computing programs now have some form of integrative or capstone course in which students undertake a significant project under supervision. There are many different models for such courses and conducting these courses is a complex task. This report is intended to assist instructors of capstone courses, particularly those new to the model of teaching and learning inherent in the capstone course.This paper discusses important issues that must be addressed when conducting capstone courses. These issues are addressed through a series of questions, with answers reflecting the way that different institutions have chosen to handle them, and commentary on the impact of these different choices. These questions include: Goals of the Course; Characteristics of Projects; Project Deliverables; Sponsors; Teams; Prerequisites and Preparation; Grading and Assessment; Administration and Supervision; and Reflection, Analysis and Review.Subsequently we present information about the companion Web site, intended as an active repository of best practice for instructors of capstone projects. The Web site will have examples of information about capstone courses and materials used by instructors. Readers are invited to contribute content to this site. The paper concludes with a bibliography of additional reference material and resources.

The use of community-based non-profit organizations in information systems capstone projects

Complaints often expressed about undergraduate computer science or information systems programs,,, is that students graduate with adequate technical skills but often lack an understanding of organizational processes, team project experience, and the ability to integrate information technology in an organizational setting. To address this, educators have historically created service-learning group projects, which leverage local organizations. These types of projects can be very rewarding for students and offer excellent educational opportunities for the students within the group. Educators who have taught service-learning group projects know there are significant problems with using this type of project. These problems include: motivation of students to do their best work, fair individual and overall group assessment, appropriate workload for a semester, and minimizing disruptive outside influences. In addition, the creation of new projects on a continuous semester basis would be very useful for the instructor of a project course. To solve these issues and problems, the following capstone course design was used with success at Grand Valley State University (GVSU). A socially-relevant, community-based assignment with local non-profit organizations provided the basis for the capstone information systems project course described in this paper. This project course produced working applications for actual clients that gave students a unique capstone experience.

A pedagogical pattern for bringing service into the curriculum via the web

The Web reduces the economic hurdles of publishing a message to a large audience. This paper documents a pedagogical pattern to integrate community service with the curriculum. Students in two different computer science courses teamed up to create websites for local non profit organizations (NPOs). The projects provided CS majors with real customers, the challenge of working on an interdisciplinary team, an opportunity for community service, and an opportunity to learn very new technologies. For their part the NPOs gained a new means of communicating their missions to the world. We believe the potential for reuse of this pattern is high and could benefit other schools and communities.

Assessing the benefits of integrating social issues components in the computing curriculum

The inclusion of social issues, including ethical and professional topics, in computing curricula has become commonplace two decades after being incorporated into the ACM Computing Curricula. However, authors of academic papers and conference presentations often concentrate on integrating the broader issues of societal impact and best practices into computing curricula, while neglecting the assessment of their benefits. This panel explores how the institutions of the panelists include social issues in projects and the curriculum as a whole, and additionally how they assess the benefits of doing so. Special attention is given to an appreciation of the social good emanating from the use of community-based and non-profit organizations in student projects. Additionally, ways to assess the effectiveness of these approaches are presented in an effort to help meet model curriculum guidelines and accreditation requirements.

An update on the use of community-based non-profit organizations in capstone projects

This poster updates a paper [3] presented at ITiCSE 2006 and re-examines a ten-year effort of our institutions use of community-based non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the information systems capstone course. Computer science or information systems majors often have adequate technical skills but lack an understanding of organizational processes, team project experience, and the ability to integrate information technology into an organizational setting. To bridge this gap, we use service-learning group projects that leverage local organizations. We document this effort to provide recommendations for successfully implementing similar courses.

The quest for an administrative nexus for information technology programs

Information Technology and Information Systems have evolved as inherently interdisciplinary fields. While an essentially haphazard proliferation of programs has helped to create a field of study that can necessarily and appropriately cross boundaries between mathematics, science, engineering, and business disciplines, the historical ambiguity with respect to program naming and classification has been, for many individuals and institutions, a source of confusion. As a discipline, if indeed there can be a single discipline to consider, individuals, educational institutions, and practitioners are constantly addressing the issue of where programs belong, both pedagogically and administratively. The existence of numerous, competing classification schemes, none of which appears to either offer a compelling advantage or commands a consensus concerning appropriateness, is the core issue the authors address in this paper. An analysis of data that are freely available (web sites for relevant academic institutions and programs) reveals literally hundreds of titles and dozens of administrative configurations for programs that fall under the broader and typical headings of CS, IS, IT, MIS, etc.. A similar inquiry into the practitioner side of the problem reveals numerous competing schemes that include, CIP & SOC, not to mention a myriad of taxonomies from various industry and professional groups (ACM, IEEE, etc.). The one thing that can be asserted with essentially absolute confidence is that this amalgam is confusing at best, and the status quo is not in the long-term interests of the discipline. The authors make no grandiose claims to having developed a unified paradigm to magically make sense of the wide range of program offerings in the numerous Information Technology and Information Systems related disciplines. Rather, this paper recognizes and begins to address the need to lay a foundation for appropriately categorizing and classifying this diverse collection of programs and configuration.

Information systems curriculum (abstract): where we should be going?

The recommendations of the ACM Curriculum Committee on Information Systems indicate an attempt to keep abreast of both curricular changes in academia and job skill demands of the computing profession. As tie needs of both changed, new recommendations were made. The latest modell published in 1981, was the culmination of a process to update the ACM 1973 recommendations for undergraduate programs. It has been more than a decade however, since the publication of the 1981 model curriculum. Much has changed over the last dozen years in the job skills demands of undergraduate students and the curricular offerings of universities. The makeup of information systems has changed quite dramatically, with an increasing use of microcomputers and advances in telecommunications as evidence. As part of the process to keep the information systems curriculum up-to-date, this panel reviews the recommendations of 1981. The purpose of this panel is to address the following issues: (1) changes in the information systems profession which demand a response in curricular change, (2) the adequacy of the 1981 model in meeting the needs of the IS graduate in the 90s, and (3) specific recommendations for an Information System Curriculum for the 90s. 1 Jay F. Nunarnaker, Jr., J. Daniel Couger, and Gordon B. Davis, “Information Systems Curriculum Recommendations for the 80s: Undergraduate and Graduate Programs, A Report of the ACM Curriculum Cornnrittee on Information Systems”, ACM Cwricufa Recommen&tions for Information Systems, Volume 11, Association for Computing Machinery, 1983 2 J. Daniel Couger, “Curricrrhrm Recommendations for Undergraduate programs in Information Systems”, Association for Computing Machinery, 1973